State Sen. Stephen M. Brewer, D-Barre, had to send out a press release to let everyone know that “with no tears in his eyes,” he was home safe in Western Massachusetts, despite a report from a viral email that went out to hundreds of recipients in early July.

The false email said Brewer had been mugged at gunpoint and robbed of all cash and credit cards while in Madrid and needed 2,000 Euro to settle an outstanding hotel bill or he would be unable to return home.

Brewer made light of the situation with his press release suggesting that Spain, in the midst of its financial challenges, might wish they could have kept the chair of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means in their country.

There was no European vacation for him this year. Brewer got no further afield than the four corners of his Worcester, Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin Senate district to celebrate Independence Day with his constituents.

View full sizeSubmitted photoPhoto taken by Brian Ashe shows a silhouette of his daughter's bicycle was in the driveway when it was left out in the rain.

“I was backing my car down my driveway and noticed that my daughter had left her bike in front of the garage,” he said. “It had been raining lightly so things were starting to get wet. When I lifted up her bike there was an almost perfect impression left on the driveway from where the rain had surrounded it.”

Ashe put the bike aside and quickly got his camera.

“I figured the image was one of those that would probably never get captured like that again,” he said.

They hear it's your birthday

If you happen to be a friend of Holyoke’s Pat and Rich Dupuis, beware!

Whenever they learn of a friend’s birthday, we hear the couple make before-dawn trips to install one of those flashy, pink flamingoes on the lawn of the celebrant.

One of their most recent “victims” was our own Barbara Bernard who awoke on none other than Friday the 13th, her 85th birthday, to find one of the tacky birds out in front of her house. The flamingo came bearing St. Patrick’s necklaces; Rich just happens to be president of the Holyoke St. Patrick’s Parade Commitee and so, too, is Barbara.

We hear rumor that the pesky pink critter may be “winging” its way back to the Dupuis home. Stay tuned!